CU Buffs

Move to special ed. going well for Amy Hendrickson

By Jenni Grubbs

Times Staff Writer

Posted:
04/25/2014 10:26:19 AM MDT

Seventh-grade special education teacher Amy Hendrickson goes over the day's lessons with her class at the end of the school day April 17 at Fort Morgan Middle School. Hendrickson was named the middle school's 2014 Crystal Apple award winner. (Jenni Grubbs / Fort Morgan Times)

Amy Hendrickson (Jenni Grubbs / Fort Morgan Times)

Amy Hendrickson was home sick the day the 2014 Crystal Apple winners were announced.

But after one of her co-workers texted her to check her email and she did, she found out she had been chosen.

"I was very excited," she said. "It's a huge honor. But when I compare myself to the quality of staff in this building, I was amazed to be picked. It's very humbling."

Hendrickson is teaching seventh-grade special education this year after teaching education for life classes for six years.

Before that, she was a stay-at-home mom for 12 years for her four children with husband Bill: John, 18, Elizabeth 16, Elinore, 14, and Lucy, 12.

"I got my degree in history, but I've never gotten a job in history," Hendrickson said. "But every job I've had has required a college degree."

She was able to get her teacher's license through an alternate licensure program and the did some substitute teaching before getting hired full-time at Fort Morgan Middle School as the education for life teacher, working with students with significant needs for six years.

"That felt like a niche for me," Hendrickson said.

But she said she is enjoying working with her seventh-grade special education students this year.

"I really like it," she said. "It's a lot of fun. I've had a lot of those 'a ha' moments, where I've seen the light bulb go on. It's really fun to see that my teaching is reaching them."

"In one short year, Mrs. Hendrickson has revitalized the seventh-grade special education program at Fort Morgan Middle School," nominators Amy Filo and Marti McGraw wrote. "It would take only one visit to her classroom for it to become apparent that she holds her special education students to the same rigorous common core standards as the rest of the students in the building."

"Especially this year, in a seventh-grade setting, I wanted to teach to seventh-grade standards," Hendrickson said. "I really appreciate common core."

She said that there are some modifications that need to be made for special education students, but that she is "really passionate" about making sure the kids are "exposed to the same material as other seventh graders" because "they're still going to be tested on it."

She said she had one student who had trouble memorizing multiplication tables, but was able to use a calculator.

"She can't use it on the TCAP, but in real life she would be able" to solve math problems that way, Hendrickson said. "Sometimes there's a block there" for one thing. "I don't want to keep pounding it into them when I can open other worlds for them, like some pre-algebra stuff."

Teaching language arts is "more natural" for Hendrickson than math.

"The warm up every day is to do some form of figurative language" with the students, she said.

At first, coming up with similes and metaphors was difficult for her students, but "now they can rattle them off," she said, a big smile on her face.

Hendrickson said she gets a lot back from her students, but she has had to learn to be able to work with lots more of them at one time.

She also has had to learn about all the paperwork involved with special education and the students' individualized education plans.

"I feel like I've come a long way with this," she said. "I understand it better now."

Hendrickson said she also likes the collaborative partnership she has with her fellow teachers, who all use a team approach with the students across different floors. She works with the seventh-grade Wolves team.

"It's nice," she said. "Working on an interdisciplinary team is better than the traditional junior high approach. I wish I would have had that approach when I was in middle school."

"Mrs. Hendrickson's calm and thoughtful demeanor has established her as a leader among her peers, not only in the special ed program, but on her grade-level team and in the building, as well," Filo and McGraw. "Mrs. Hendrickson is a team player and always shares her ideas, lessons and units with other teachers."

"She shows enthusiasm by always being prepared for students on a daily basis," nominator Dianna Cheney wrote. "Students receive her well because she always goes above and beyond to help them in class."

When she is not at school, she likes to spend time with her family, as well as sneaking in some time for reading for fun.

"My favorite hobby is reading," she said. "I've developed a new interest in science fiction, and I read young adult fiction."

Every year, she sets goals for herself in how many books she plans to read, usually 65 or 66. That can include the reading she does out loud to her class, reading with her kids and reading for herself at home.

"I finished my master's degree two years ago," she said. "For 18 months, I don't think I read a book for pleasure. Now I can read guilt-free."

Hendrickson also likes to cook, go on walks, stay involved in her church, St. Helena's Catholic Church and help with coaching Brain Bowl.

She also is involved with the Association for Children with Disabilities in Morgan County.

"We can find projects for any kid on an IEP," she said. "We've paid for camps, computer programs and field trips."

Hendrickson and her family moved to Fort Morgan in 2001.

"We wanted a better place to raise a family," she said. "My husband got a job with the city, and we had our fourth child here. We like the schools and the opportunity to get involved with community. It's been a good place to raise a family."